Columbus After Dark: The Late Shift with Bondsman Andy Callif

Andy Callif ofAndy Callif Bail Bonds: I'm a third-generations bondsman. I went to a college for a year-it wasn't for me-and I moved back to Columbus and joined the family business. That was 22 years ago now.

It's a very demanding job. I used to work the 3 to 11 p.m. shift, and if you leave the office and get a call at 1 a.m., you have to take it. We do it 24/7. There's almost always someone [in our office] until 10 p.m. or later. The courthouse is always posting bonds. It's hard. I have a family. The phone never stops ringing, and if we don't answer it, another [bondsman] is going to get it. Your family has to know you can be asleep in bed at 2 a.m. and, if that phone rings, you got to take it. I've been on vacation and gotten calls.

You can get off-the-wall [calls]. Sometimes people who are drunk, obviously emotional, because their boyfriend or husband just got arrested. Especially after any big holiday, Christmas and Thanksgiving, when families get together. You would think Red, White & Boom, but not so much.

Bail is posted in Columbus sometimes eight to 10 hours after an arrest, and we get a lot of 2 a.m. calls: "So-and-so hasn't been released yet." And we have to explain, to very upset people, that we can't control that. Sometimes, there's just no rhyme or reason to it. -As told to Anthony Dominic